The early reviews are in: People in Calgary despise the idea of the National Energy Board being shuffled out of Calgary.

That’s not exactly blockbuster news. Ultimately, however, the views of the mayor, premier or local chamber of commerce president won’t turn the tide on this issue.

What really matters in the coming months is what the federal Liberal government thinks of its new expert panel report that recommends uprooting parts of the national energy regulator from the city as part of a broader plan to reform the agency.

Now, the only Calgarian in the federal cabinet has weighed in, in what looks like a signal on where the Trudeau government will go next.

“I’ve been around this business getting to be a long time. Reports get written … recommendations get made, things are looked at and sometimes they are absolutely ignored,” Veterans Affairs Minister Kent Hehr said in an interview Friday.

“In my view, the National Energy Board should stay right in Calgary. We have a long line of expertise and talent and the like, so you know where I will be putting my full support, behind it staying in Calgary.”

That’s good to hear.

The potential loss of more well-paying jobs from Calgary’s energy sector in the midst of a recession would not only be painful, but seem downright mean-spirited.

“It’s just more kicking us when we’re down,” said Calgary Chamber of Commerce CEO Adam Legge.

The report was commissioned by Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr to examine modernizing the National Energy Board and updating its mandate.

It held hearings across the country, although oddly not in Calgary, where it’s been based since 1991.

The overhaul comes as the NEB has faced intense scrutiny and criticism from many quarters over decisions such as the botched Energy East hearings last year and approval of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion.

The study recommends the Trudeau government split the energy regulator into two agencies, with one responsible for handling energy data and another in charge of energy transmission and infrastructure.

The Canadian Energy Information Agency should be based in Ottawa to be close to other related departments, the panel said. Several other functions should also be placed in the nation’s capital, including the office of the board of directors, it recommended.

Many people who spoke at the public hearings also argued it’s a problem just having the NEB headquartered in Calgary, “as it places the regulator in a social environment that can erode its independence,” the report states.

I’m not sure what social environment that might be? The Stampede? Heritage Park? The downtown office towers that are home to 100 public energy companies?

Let’s cut through the noise.

What it’s really implying is people who live in Alberta can’t be trusted to provide unbiased, scientifically based opinions on matters dealing with energy because the city is too close to the sector.

If it makes you feel any better, panellist Brenda Kenny from Calgary said this was simply a perception the group heard, although the study didn’t look for evidence to validate this simplistic generalization.

“I would encourage people to consider that everyone in Canada will have their needs best met if the national regulator has a national footprint and national governance,” she said this week.

Well, that’s not all it’s suggesting.

It’s also recommending moving 100 to 150 of the NEB’s 450 full-time members out the city to help defuse the perception.

Hehr, whose riding includes the board’s headquarters, doesn’t appear to agree with this notion.

“I have a strong sense that the public servants and appointees of the National Energy Board do yeoman service to this country and analyze things in a comprehensive fashion,” said the Calgary Centre MP.

Likewise, the only other Liberal MP in the city, Darshan Kang, doesn’t think any jobs in the board should be relocated.

“I will advocate strongly to keep the NEB here and I strongly believe that Alberta is the best place for the NEB,” said the Calgary Skyview MP.

I’m glad the pair has spoken out.

If local Liberal MPs don’t oppose this recommendation, what chance would the mayor and premier have in Ottawa to make the case that the energy regulator needs to work in close proximity to the people it deals with each day.

Mayor Naheed Nenshi launched a blistering attack on the report and has already expressed his opposition to the prime minister’s office.

“The federal government would have to think long and hard about what the implication of accepting this report is. The implication, of course, is that people in Calgary are unprofessional, are biased, can’t be trusted to make regulatory decisions,” he said this week.

“Now if you believe the NEB has been biased and it’s not a truly science-based, rigorous evaluation process, then fix the science. Fix the process. That’s what this commission was supposed to do.”

The federal government will spend the next few months reviewing the report, while online comments will be accepted until June 14.

At the chamber, Legge said the group will reach out to Carr’s office to make its views known as the business group attempts to derail the relocation recommendation.

“At the end of the day, the decision is theirs and we’ll see how much love there is for Alberta and Calgary.”

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